


Synergy

by JellyDishes



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/F, Femslash, its pretty gay my guy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:41:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23444905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JellyDishes/pseuds/JellyDishes
Summary: Warden Bethany Hawke was a very unfortunate woman to have in Skyhold.Not in the sense that she was poor company, of course, quite the opposite - Josephine easily could and had spent hours talking with her. The truth of the matter was, Josephine found her attention lingering on Bethany even when the warden was nowhere around.
Relationships: Bethany Hawke/Josephine Montilyet
Comments: 6
Kudos: 14





	Synergy

Warden Bethany Hawke was a very unfortunate woman to have in Skyhold. 

Not in the sense that she was poor company, of course, quite the opposite - Josephine easily could and had spent hours talking with her. The truth of the matter was, Josephine found her attention lingering on Bethany even when the warden was nowhere around. 

She was certainly striking, with strong features framed by curls gathered into a long braid and clever, long-fingered hands. Josephine sometimes caught herself torn between looking at Bethany’s face when she spoke or her hands. She couldn’t help it, she had always been fascinated by beautiful hands, and Bethany’s were both well-formed and fascinatingly dotted with scars and calluses. Her hands had character, and Josephine couldn’t help but wonder what those hands would feel like. 

That train of thought made her flustered when she was completely alone in her office, let alone when the woman in question came by for a consultation.

Today was even more of a disaster on that front than usual. Bethany had come straight to Josephine’s office from a mission with Leliana’s scouts, and if Josephine lifted her head just so, she would be able to see where a smear of mud met the deep red birthmark that streaked across Bethany’s nose. She did  _ not _ raise her head, but she didn’t have to. She could see it in her head as clearly as the letter she was, or had, been writing. Had, because it was impossible to concentrate with Bethany in the room. Her presence was almost suffocating in the very best way, her very presence stealing all of the breath from Josephine’s lungs and leaving her lightheaded. 

For a woman who had been raised to keep a calm, level head in any situation, she was finding it remarkably difficult to concentrate on what really was a very important piece of legislature she had been puzzling out ways to evade, and-

“-phine?”

Josephine went still. There came a laugh, full-bodied as the most luxurious wine, and a gloved hand settled on the desk beside Josephine’s. “Look at you, lost in the clouds,” Bethany said, with such a smile in her voice that Josephine could no more resist glancing up than a flower could resist turning towards the sunshine. She was just in time to catch a flash of a dimple, and was caught. She only realized she had been staring when that laugh came again. “Something on your mind, my lady?”

Coming from Bethany, those words did not sound at all condescending. In point of fact, she found her cheeks growing hot as Bethany started to lean over her desk. Josephine wasn’t sure if it was to say something else in that light, teasing tone that had so enraptured her or to touch her, but the very thought had her lurching to her feet. “You must excuse me, warden! I have very important matters to see to!” She almost stumbled over the words, and  _ did _ stumble over her own feet as she came around her desk. 

She didn’t have the time to be embarrassed or even properly think at all. Everything seemed to move very fast, and very slowly all at once. She saw the slide of her foot in the wrong direction and knew that she was heading for a very embarrassing fall in front of the very last person in the world she’d want to. There was just enough time for the word  _ ‘shit’, _ to flit through her mind, and then warm arms settled around Josephine’s waist, swinging her in a half circle and up against Bethany’s chest. 

Josephine stared wide eyed, mouth parted, and very,  _ very  _ aware of how very warm Bethany was. This would have been a perfect time to put her vaunted skills to good use and to say something suave and charming, something that would make warden Bethany Hawke laugh. Well… in that, she succeeded. “Shit!” Josephine blurted out, and brought her head down to Bethany’s shoulder as that delightful laugh came again. 

“I don’t know about that,” Bethany said, her arms circling just that much closer around her. “If this is all I’ll get to see out of you before your very important meeting, I’ll take it.”

Josephine stared, and she couldn’t help it. She laughed. “It isn’t as important as all that,” she admitted with a smile. “At least… I just keep going around in circles, owing entirely to a certain someone.”

“Is that so?” Bethany raised eyebrows shot through with the same silvery strips of scar tissue that marked wherever her skin was visible. “Should I go, then? Leave you to your work?” 

It was impossible to tell if she was teasing or not, and Josephine instantly shook her head. “No!” She tucked a hand close to her face, flustered and thrown off what little balance she’d had left after quite literally tumbling into Bethany’s arms. “No, I- you-“ She started and then stopped, her cheeks darkening still further from her earlier blush. “You simply make it impossible to collect myself! Do you do that on purpose?” Josephine blurted out, and almost started to regret it until Bethany’s inscrutable expression broke into an impish grin. 

“Of  _ course _ I do,” she laughed, and Josephine couldn’t help but notice that Bethany had not made the slightest attempt at putting her down. Josephine was very, very content with this development. “I’ve been trying to flirt with you for days now. You almost make me wonder if I need to practice, the way they all flew right over your head.”

“I wouldn’t say  _ all _ of them,” Josephine said under her breath, thinking back to all of the seemingly unintentional touches that lingered a little too long, laughter and smiles and the almost uncanny way Bethany always seemed to come by just when Josephine was alone. “Just… a significant amount.”

“Well in that case!” Bethany’s golden-brown eyes crinkled, and Josephine found herself unable to look away more than ever. “Still, I think I have to prove that my skills are intact, don’t you? For the sake of my bruised pride, you see.”

“Prove your- oh!” Josephine almost jumped as Bethany set her gently back on her feet, only to take up one of Josephine’s hands in hers, tucking the other behind her back. She started to stammer an embarrassingly inarticulate jumble of syllables as Bethany bent over her hand, pausing just shy of it to glance up at Josephine with a smile. 

“May I kiss you, lady Montilyet?”

“Only if you use my name!” Josephine said without thinking, then winced as Bethany laughed again, pressing her forehead to the back of Josephine's hand, then straightened. 

“Of course. Josephine, may I-“

It was Bethany’s turn to be surprised as Josephine almost leaped forward to press her lips to Bethany’s. Her lips were warm under Josephine’s, and parted on a gasp. She tasted like tea and cheap liquor, and it made Josephine shiver. “I’ve been trying to get you to kiss me for the past few minutes!” She said breathlessly into Bethany’s stunned expression when she finally pulled back. “It gets so you almost make me question if I need to practice!” Bethany stammered in turn, which was very satisfying all on it's own, and Josephine did the little triumphant dancing wiggle of her shoulders that always made Leliana laugh. “Trouble? Is that a ‘Yes, Josephine, I would dearly appreciate you kissing me again, and perhaps aga-‘“

It seemed they were going to take turns interrupting each other, Josephine thought distantly. Only, Bethany hadn’t kissed Josephine on the mouth the way Josephine had her. She had instead begun to press a line of scorching kisses down Josephine’s throat, making her let out a squeak. Bethany muffled a laugh into Josephine’s neck that made warmth pool at the base of her spine. “You underestimate me, ambassador. How disappointing. And here I thought we understood each other.” Even as she spoke, Josephine had reason to discover just how clever Bethany Hawke’s fingers were.

Josephine gasped, her hips stuttering up in a way that Bethany must have found very gratifying indeed, because that laugh came again. It was warm and low and throaty, with the slightest rasp that she ached to hear again almost as much as she ached for Bethany to ”Move, for Andraste’s sake!” It did not seem that she had any plans to do any such thing anytime soon, however. Naturally, this meant that Josephine was forced to take matters into her own hands, leaning up to press a warm, thoroughly sharp kiss to Bethany’s lips. Bethany made a particularly pleasing noise and arched as Josephine gave a sudden twist so that their positions were reversed, with Bethany bent back over Josephine’s desk. 

“Now that isn’t fair!” Bethany laughed, half a gasp, fingers tightening on the shoulders of Josephine’s dress.

“Whoever told you that I had any intention of playing fair?” Josephine murmured back, tilting her head further to press a line of scorching kisses down the line of Bethany’s jaw. “I am Antivan, after all. And you,” Josephine murmured between pressing soft kisses to Bethany’s throat that served as a contrast to the sure grip on her hip, tugging her just where Josephine wanted her, “are wearing entirely too many clothes.”

“You’re the ambassador, you’re supposed to use that gilded tongue of yours to talk me out of them, aren’t you?” Bethany said archly, and was plainly thinking the follow-up joke about what other uses could be made of Josephine’s gilded tongue. There was only one thing to do about that, or perhaps several. And while Josephine may be inexperienced about some things, she knew enough about persuasion to know that words weren’t needed at all at this juncture, only a smile and entwining her fingers with Bethany’s. This, out of everything, made Bethany Hawke blush, and Josephine knew that she was willing to do quite a lot in order to see it again. 

Yes, Warden Bethany Hawke was a very unfortunate woman to have in Skyhold if you had any intention of getting any proper work done. But if your intentions were to stumble after the warden’s laughing gaze, your hand in hers… well, then you could count yourself as very fortunate indeed. 


End file.
